One reason fewer lawyers are joining bar associations is the greying of the profession. Not only that, law schools are graduating fewer attorneys to replace them.

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), 43,832 people graduated from American law schools in 2014. In 2015, that number dropped nearly 9% to 39,984. Of those graduates, fewer passed bar exams. Two years ago 28,113 law grads passed bar exams while that number dropped to 24,961 in 2015. Those decreasing numbers mean a few things.

First, there are fewer potential members for bar associations to vie for. Second, it is widely known that millennials, who comprise the vast majority of new law graduates, communicate differently than lawyers of yesteryear. They also tend to shy away from joining organizations, making membership in bar associations that much less appealing.

With those realities in mind, are bar associations heading to their graves? According to Van Horn, bar associations would be wise to look at the presence of millennials as an opportunity, not an obstacle.

Van Horn, who just completed a three-year stint as Chair of the Standing Committee on Membership for the ABA, says, “Young lawyers today want what bar associations offer, namely mentoring, a sense of belonging and help developing their practice.” Despite that, membership in bar associations is lagging because those organizations aren’t communicating their bill of fare to current and prospective members well, he says.

Communicating Value

Van Horn, who was president of the Tennessee Bar Association from 2011-2012, laments there is a “generational gap” between leaders of bar associations and millennials, a group he calls “least susceptible to the marketing practices of [promoting] benefits of membership. They also network in different ways and many of today’s bar associations aren’t reaching out to them where they are,” Van Horn says.

Steve Chappelear, a partner with the Columbus office of Frost Brown Todd LLC, agrees bar associations need to improve their use of technology if they want to tap into new markets of potential members, such as millennials. Bar associations, he says, “must communicate with members via social media versus the old way of newsletters and magazines. They need to communicate quickly and effectively to members using modern technology.”

If prospective members of bar associations don’t realize the multitude of benefits that can be gained by joining the organization beyond discounted malpractice insurance or deals on car rentals, for example, they don’t have the full picture of what such a membership can provide, Van Horn says.

“Today, some discounts offered by bar associations can mirror a listing of discounts offered by AAA or AARP,” he says. If prospective members only weigh the discounts membership provides, which can also be gained by joining generic organizations or even buying an Entertainment Book, membership doesn’t look all that appealing or necessary.

“But the value goes way beyond that,” Van Horn argues. He says without a doubt, his favorite benefit of belonging to various bar associations is “career recharge. Belonging to and being very active in a bar is a great way for me to recharge my professional batteries on a regular basis. I’m a big believer that if you surround yourself with people who are better than you, you will get better, too.”

Other Bar Bennies

Beyond helping him emulate a professional Energizer Bunny, Van Horn enjoys other plusses of bar membership. For example, one reason he is proud to be an active member of the ABA is its intensive and effective advocacy efforts on behalf of the legal profession. He points to the ABA’s diligence in lobbying against Congress’s desire to impose Red Flags legislation on lawyers three years ago.

Had that legislation passed, “it would have cost lawyers thousands in tax liability. I take a lot of pride to being in an organization that stood up for lawyers who didn’t even realize it was happening,” says Van Horn, who voluntarily joined both the Memphis and Tennessee Bar Associations in 1998, one year after passing the bar in The Mountaineer State.

Bar associations are also leaders in promoting pro bono efforts, another cause important to Van Horn. “If it weren’t for the organized bar, there may not be the same commitment” to pro bono, he says.

Chappelear, who is a past president of both the Columbus and Ohio Bar Associations, just completed a three-year stint on the ABA’s Board of Governors. He has held countless leadership posts in those two groups as well as the ABA since joining that trio after graduating from the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University in 1977. One of his favorite benefits of bar involvement is the “opportunity to get to know and develop friendships and relationships with lawyers and judges locally, across Ohio and the United States,” he says.

Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer.